Barack Obama expected to name former Bush official James Comey next head of FBI

Barack Obama is expected to name a former senior official from George W Bush's
administration to be the next director of the Federal Bureau of
Investigation.

The choice of Mr Comey makes a strong statement about bipartisanshipPhoto: EPA

By Peter Foster, Washington

3:41PM BST 30 May 2013

The decision to nominate James B. Comey, a former hedge fund executive and registered Republican was seen as an attempt at a symbolic act of bipartisanship at a time of intense political divisions in Washington.

If confirmed, Mr Comey, 52, would also enable Mr Obama to avoid another bruising Senate nomination fight of the kind that occurred over Chuck Hagel, his defence secretary, who was confirmed only after becoming the first in American history to have his nomination filibustered in the Senate.

Washington has been rocked by a series of scandals in recent weeks that have distracted Mr Obama in the crucial early stages of his second term.

Fresh polls this week have shown Mr Obama's approval rating sinking three points this month to 45 per cent of Americans approving of his job, according to Quinnipiac University.

Mr Comey served as President Bush's deputy attorney general from 2003-2005 and is best known for his last-minute intervention to thwart attempts by the Bush White House to extend a highly controversial eavesdropping programme that he considered illegal.

The episode – in which he dashed to the hospital bedside of the then attorney general, John Ashcroft, who was being brow-beaten by Mr Bush's chief counsel and chief of staff – is expected to make him an acceptable nominee for Democrats.

He has reportedly been chosen over Lisa Monaco, the current National Security Adviser, who was working at the Justice Department during last September's attacks on the US Consulate in Benghazi, an episode over which Republicans have repeatedly attacked the administration.

It was not clear when Mr Obama would formally announce Mr Comey's nomination which the White House declined to confirm officially.

Mr Comey would replace Robert Mueller, the current FBI director, whose 10-year term ends in September having been extended in 2011 as the White House searched for a politically acceptable nominee.

The FBI agents' association issued a statement supporting Mr Comey who would take the helm at a time when the FBI is being questioned publicly over its failure to track the Boston bombing suspects, and the shooting of an apparently unarmed associate of one of the bombers during an interrogation in Florida earlier this month.